Abstract
The scent of blood is potentially one of the most fundamental and survival-relevant olfactory cues in humans. This experiment tests the first human parameters of perceptual threshold and emotional ratings in men and women of an artificially simulated smell of fresh blood in contact with the skin. We hypothesize that this scent of blood, with its association with injury, danger, death, and nutrition will be a critical cue activating fundamental motivational systems relating to either predatory approach behavior or prey-like withdrawal behavior, or both. The results show that perceptual thresholds are unimodally distributed for both sexes, with women being more sensitive. Furthermore, both women and men’s emotional responses to simulated blood scent divide strongly into positive and negative valence ratings, with negative ratings in women having a strong arousal component. For women, this split is related to the phase of their menstrual cycle and oral contraception (OC). Future research will investigate whether this split in both genders is context-dependent or trait-like.
Highlights
The scent of blood as a motivational driverHuman biological scents, including sweat, breath, breast milk and sexual effluvia appear to have a major influence upon human chemical communication, bonding and partner selection [1,2,3]
By artificially combining the components of blood scent [30], an artificial blood scent mixture was created. Using this simulated scent has the advantage of being non-variable and free of stress hormones. Since this has not been tested previously in humans, we examined the distribution of perceptual thresholds for this scent in an experimental population
Men and women did not differ in regard to the unimodality of distributions, a Mann-Whitney-U test revealed that women (Mdn = 10.25, [Range: 7.5 to 15.5]), were significantly more sensitive to simulated blood scent than men (Mdn = 8.75, [Range: 6.25 to 16], U = 696, p = 0.016, r = 0.26)
Summary
The scent of blood as a motivational driverHuman biological scents, including sweat, breath, breast milk and sexual effluvia appear to have a major influence upon human chemical communication, bonding and partner selection [1,2,3]. The scent of blood as a motivational driver. One bodily fluid that has been neglected in its possible importance far is the scent of blood. Surprising perhaps, because its presence in the environment is associated with fundamental survival, nutritional and reproductive factors, including cycles of female fertility, predatory behavior, as well as danger, fear, injury, prey, and death. There are two theoretical motivational possibilities for the scent of blood: First, the appetitive approach stimulus e.g., associated with hunting prey; second the potential withdrawal danger signal, e.g. indicating that an area is dangerous. Approach is a response to a stimulus promoting survival, including sex, food, and nurture. Withdrawal is a response to stimuli representing threat, including, escape and self-defense [4].
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